Bit wise and shift operators

Hi guys, i learned the mechanism of Shift operators and bitwise operators but i couldn't understand that for what purpose they're used. can any one please explain. thanx in advance.

David Eason

Greenhorn

Posts: 14

posted 15 years ago

Sorry I couldn't think of a better example for the & operator. Basically, it is used to extract individual bits from a numeric type.

As for the shift operators, in other programming languages one use for them is fast multiplication and division by powers of 2. I am not sure if that particular optimization is necessary in Java, because I am not that familiar with Java.

[This message has been edited by David Eason (edited November 06, 2001).]

Jag Sharma

Greenhorn

Posts: 10

posted 15 years ago

I believe that bit patterns are also used in Computer Graphics, Animations.

Argm Mastoi

Ranch Hand

Posts: 35

posted 15 years ago

Thanx Jagdeep, now i got an idea about the usage of these from your answer. I was looking forward for Cindy's answer as her answers make the situation crystal clear.